Serra High joins blackface controversy

This photo, posted on Facebook, shows some of the people -- including two staff members at Serra High School in San Diego -- dressed as members of the Jamaican bobsled team for a Halloween party on Oct. 26.

This photo, posted on Facebook, shows some of the people -- including two staff members at Serra High School in San Diego -- dressed as members of the Jamaican bobsled team for a Halloween party on Oct. 26.

Two San Diego high school coaches donned blackface to enhance their Jamaican bobsled costumes at a Halloween event last weekend. An actress recently darkened her pale skin as part of a costume depicting a favorite TV character. A Florida man recently attended a party dressed as Trayvon Martin — complete with blackface and a simulated bullet hole.

These costumes made headlines, generated public apologies and prompted investigations this week.

In a time when Halloween get-ups are celebrated for pushing the limits of sexiness, irony and taste, blackface is one accessory that crosses the line into the unacceptable and the blatantly offensive, according to African studies academics, pop-culture experts and civil-rights advocates.

“These images are harmful for African-American people to see. It’s painful and reminds them of a legacy in the country where they were dehumanized,” said Mark Sawyer, director of UCLA’s Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity and Politics.

It’s hard to know what Serra High School’s physical education teacher and varsity head football coach, Brian Basteyns, and assistant coach Harold Seeley were trying to accomplish with their Jamaican bobsled costumes, which were featured in pictures posted on Facebook. They wore blackface, stretchy costumes and helmets similar to those featured in “Cool Runnings,” the movie inspired by the real bobsledders that made their Olympic debut in 1988.

Was it blatant racism? An attempt at humor? Or some other motivation?

CLARIFICATION

The original version of this story gave the impression that the local chapter of the Anti-Defamation League called for Serra High School staff members who were involved in a Halloween blackface costume controversy to resign. In fact, the league condemned the use of blackface but didn’t push for any resignations.

Regardless of the intent, the photos prompted outcry from local chapters of the Anti-Defamation League and the NAACP. The NAACP called for the coaches’ resignations. The San Diego Unified School District has launched an investigation, officials announced Tuesday.

School board president John Lee Evans said racism by district staff — even if it’s unintentional — is unacceptable. “I just want the public to know that we hold our staff to a very high standard and we are not going to tolerate any insensitivity to diversity,” he said.

Basteyns and Seeley could not be reached for comment.

One former Serra High football player defended Basteyns as a “caring and fun-loving guy” whom he couldn’t imagine trying to hurt anyone.

“As an African-American male, I do not know Brian Basteyns to be racist. He cares about his students,” said Javier Atkinson, a 2005 Serra High graduate who now works as an intern for Assemblywoman Shirley Weber, San Diego’s first black state legislator.

“I do believe he should understand that depicting blackface is hurtful and he should definitely know the history,” Atkinson said.

Blackface became popular in the mid-19th century, first by white actors and then by blacks.

“It was burlesque and it was demeaning, but at the same time there was a sense that minstrel was embracing the vitality and excitement of African-American music and dance traditions,” said Robert Thompson, professor of popular culture at Syracuse University. “The division between respect and disdain is fine for historians to sort out. Today, that blackface it is meant to be insulting should be abundantly clear to anyone who is awake.”